Making Verbatim Theater

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

This course explores creative approaches to the theatrical adaptation and embodiment of historical LGBTQ+ materials. Students are invited to serve as artist-investigators who research, adapt, and perform in short theatre works born verbatim from the oral histories and archival documents of LGBTQ+ activists, change-makers, and allies. Interview transcripts, letters, video recordings, newspaper coverage, diaries, and more will serve as creative material for short performances seeking to give voice to the many who have fought for queer justice at Georgetown, in the United States, and around the world. Students will engage with a range of core dramatic texts and primary source materials, harnessing the documentary theatre model (also called verbatim theatre, docudrama, ethnodrama) to illuminate our intersectional humanities in innovative and imaginative ways. Primary assignments include student-led creative research projects, live interviews and transcriptions, monologue-making, core text analysis, and self-reflection posts. Students will work solo, in pairs, and in small groups to produce work throughout the semester. Students are expected to attend plays, talks, and other events as relevant to the core curriculum. This course culminates in a sharing of works created over the course of the semester. Suitable for students with considerable performance experience and for beginners.